City Council Finance Committee delays action on Wal-Mart

(Crain's) -- Legislation that could pave the way for a second Wal-Mart store within Chicago has been stalled once again.

The city's Finance Committee, led by Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), on Monday also postponed considering a revived "living wage" ordinance that would require retailers that receive city subsidies -- directly and indirectly -- and employ more than 50 people to pay workers at least $11.03 an hour.

It's a broader-based measure than the "big-box ordinance" that stirred up controversy more than three years ago and prompted Mayor Richard M. Daley to issue his first veto since he was elected in 1989.

But the Finance Committee postponed a vote on the measure until Wednesday, before the full Chicago City Council meets.

The committee also deferred voting on an amendment to the redevelopment agreement that would help advance construction on a Wal-Mart at 83rd Street and South Stewart Avenue in the Chatham neighborhood.

Mr. Burke, who has met with labor leaders, said his latest living-wage proposal was developed to address concerns of labor leaders, who have accused the store of anti-union policies. He said it also addresses Wal-Mart's unease surrounding the debates on their wages and benefits.

But talks between the two sides leading up to the committee meeting failed to resolve their issues, leading Mr. Burke to postpone any a vote.

"There's been an olive branch extended to Wal-Mart," said Mr. Burke after the committee meeting. "They could have moved ahead on the 83rd Street project and, if they didn't need a subsidy in the future, this wouldn't even affect them."

He added, "If a company wants to build in the city and use tax subsidies, they have to abide by the living-wage (ordinance). People down in Bentonville" -- the Arkansas home of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. -- "are afraid of a policy here that would spread across the nation."

Chicago Federation of Labor President Dennis Gannon, who attended Monday's committee meeting, agreed and said: "Wal-Mart has claimed that they want a level playing field. I think by addressing the living-wage issue, they will address the level playing field."

The world's largest retailer currently has a single city store, in the Austin neighborhood on the West Side.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said in a statement that the latest proposal on the table "is the wrong direction for a city that desperately needs jobs and economic growth. This ordinance does not address the needs of the people of Chicago who want jobs and access to fresh and affordable food."

The retailer has had a series of setbacks since the narrow defeat in 2006 of the big-box law, which would have required all similar-sized retailers to pay at least $10 an hour, plus benefits. After Mr. Daley vetoed the ordinance, aldermen who supported the measure couldn't muster enough votes for an override.

The Chatham store wouldn't be affected by the new living wage proposal because that development already is underway. But it could affect future stores, including four others in South Side neighborhoods that Wal-Mart has been eyeing. It could also affect any other business that receives city tax subsidies going forward.

Alderman Howard Brookins Jr. (21st), who's been fighting for a store in his ward since 2004 and introduced a proposal in April that would amend the original development agreement for Chatham Marketplace, said "it would be a travesty" if a resolution couldn't be reached to allow Wal-Mart to at least open a store in Chatham, if not elsewhere in the city.

"If we get another delay, no one is getting anything that they want," he said.